Portsmouth
proved to be a better stop than we anticipated.
Although it rained much of the time there we found several interesting
things to do. The ferry to Norfolk was
close by and for $.75 for seniors cheap enough.
Debby got to spend some quality time in a very large multistory mall in
downtown Norfolk. The old town section
of Portsmouth has some well preserved colonial homes, but the business district
has too many empty store fronts. One
major exception is the Commodore Theater.
This 1945 theater has been restored to its original elegant state and
converted to a dinner theater showing first run films. The meals are light and inexpensive and include
wine and beer. We saw Tom Hank’s newest
movie “Bridge of Spies” which we can recommend.
The
shipyards in Norfolk/Portsmouth area are very extensive and impressive. There were at least 4 aircraft carriers being
worked on and numerous other large ships as well. It is hard to imagine any other country
having such capability.
The
weather finally cleared enough to travel on Thursday the 29th. Portsmouth is Mile “0” on the Atlantic Intracoastal
Waterway. There are two choices leaving
Portsmouth; the Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal or the Dismal Swamp Canal. Since we came north through the former we
decided to take the slower, but more picturesque Dismal Swamp route. The idea of a canal here connecting the
Chesapeake with Albemarle Sound was first proposed in 1728. Both George Washington and Patrick Henry
favored this route and Washington purchased 50,000 acres in the swamp. Construction started in 1796 and was
completed in 1805. It is the oldest
operating artificial waterway in the US.
There are two locks that raise and lower boats 8’ at either end. As speeds are restricted it is a pleasant and
scenic trip through farm land and wooded areas bright with fall foliage.
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| Debby Manning the Lines Deer Creek Lock Great Dismal Swamp |
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| Dismal Swamp |
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| Dismal Swamp |
The
southern terminus of the canal trip is Elizabeth City which is very welcoming
to boaters. They offer free dock space
and wine and cheese upon arrival. We
missed the wine and cheese party but found a friendly Tiki Bar to make up for
the loss.
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| Tiki Bar Elizabeth City, NC |
The
next day was a perfect weather window to cross Albemarle Sound and move on to
Belhaven, a distance of 83 miles. It was
our intent to go from there to Oriental for Halloween, but the town was completely
booked for a major sailing event, so we stayed another day in Belhaven. The marina provides golf carts for transport,
so we got to see all the town has to offer which isn’t much. In the ”small world” department a boat pulled
in front of us at the marina. It was a beautiful
80’ wooden hulled Trumpy captained by an
acquaintance of ours for many years.
Captain Barry is well known as one of the best varnish people and
caretaker of Trumpys in the business and has worked on many boats at Lauderdale
Yacht Club. The picture shows why you
need a good varnish man. He has been
captain of the Annabelle for 10 years
and moves it from Fort Lauderdale to Maine and back each year.
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| Captain Barry's 80' Trumpy Annabelle |
Sunday,
Nov. 1 was our last travel day a 64 mile run to New Bern, our new winter
home. It was overcast, but calm seas
made for a pleasant ride down the Pongo River, crossing Pamlico Sound and up
the Neuse River.
New
Bern is at the head waters of the Neuse River where it intersects with the
Trent River. It was founded in 1710 by
German and Swiss colonists who named it after the Swiss town of Bern. It served for a period as the first capitol
of North Carolina. It has a charming
historic downtown, a large protected marina behind a Doubletree Hotel located right next to
downtown and is far enough south that we do not have to winterize the
boat. We will spend the month of
November here up until Thanksgiving when we will head south by car to spend
December in Florida. After that we will
probably share time between Stuart and New Bern until we head north again in
May to see the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.
It
has been 6 months to the day since we left Ft. Lauderdale. We have traveled 3,600 miles in 72 travel
days and consumed 2700 gal of fuel.
After a few maintenance issues in the early days of the trip the boat
has performed remarkably. With just a
few exceptions we have been particularly blessed with excellent weather.
Upon
reflection, and looking over the blog it has been a truly great
experience. We have seen many wonderful
sights, saw friends along the way, and met many wonderful new people. It makes you appreciate this great country we
live in.
Look
for more postings in May 2016!
